Things are becoming . . . Normal?

That's right folks, after only 4 months of capture and domination by this completely alien thing in our lives, and we are starting to see some normalcy again. Of course I am reasonably sure Laura is not an actual alien, but what better description for a semi gelatinous mass that squirms, wiggles (around our house we have combined the two words to form a new more powerful word squiggle), makes weird noises (which she will do for long periods of time, whether you are there to talk back to her or not) and completely dominates every aspect of our lives. She smiles almost constantly. Nothing like that big toothless grin to turn the day around. Perhaps further evidence that Laura might be an alien, she has unusual powers (as I just mentioned, her smile).

The girl is a mess. For a child that cannot move under her own power, she is all over the place. Tara and I live in constant fear of two things. First, that when she starts to crawl and walk we will never get any rest as she will be on the go. I had really better start getting into better shape. In truth this would be a great thing. She already shows incredible curiosity about her surroundings. We are very excited about reaching a time when she can explore them more thoroughly.

The second thing we live in fear of, is that Laura will be a constant talker. You know, the type of person that just never shuts up, no matter what you do or say to them to get them to leave you alone. As I said above, Laura is constantly making all kinds of noises, whether you are there or not. That is great. Tara and I encourage her constantly to be more vocal. But we are afraid that once she figures out how to form words, she will go from two and three words sentences to hours long dissertations on her stuffed animal in no time. God help us all. Actually, given her Down Syndrome I would be very proud of her if she were to make that leap.

Ok, now for the updates. By now Laura should be over 14.5 pounds. She had her 4 month check up and shots last week and she weighed 14 pounds 6 ounces. She is 24 inches long. This all means that she is above the 90% range for height and weight. That is great news. Everything I have described in the post so far continues to point to Laura's surgery being a complete success. We are incredibly grateful for that.

Other tidbits. We are down to 6 feeds a day. This means we have an 8 hour period at night where we can try to get some sleep. I hope we are able to further reduce her number of feeds in the not to distant future. Yes she sleeps very well through the night.

Laura has successfully rolled from her back to her belly all on her own. Tara and I were very excited to see this. Laura looked a little confused about how she had gotten that way, but once she got back onto her back again she tried to turn over again.

She is also starting to reach for things. Up until now, if she had something in her hand it was either placed there or she found it by accident. Now she pulls burp clothes off of shoulders to suck on them. She also reaches for toys that she can see in her stroller or carrier.

Most importantly, she is starting to figure out how to feed from her bottle. For over a month before her surgery she fed pretty much from an NG tube. She has fed primarily from the tube since her surgery. We work with her on almost every feed. She is constantly taking about 5 mL. But she usually has one feed a day where she will take more. This is a great thing.

So as you can see things are constantly changing around here. It is fun to see it all happening. I will try to get pictures up soon. We have some great ones.

Just a reminder, the Down Syndrome Association of Houston 2009 Buddy walk is November 14th at Jones plaza. There is still time to sign up to walk or donate to DSAH. To do either go to www.dsah.org. On the left side of your screen you will see the word Buddywalk. Click on it. Then in the middle of your screen you will see a link to the 2009 Buddywalk page. Click on that link. Then click on the link for Find Team. In the first blank field on the right side of your screen type Laura's Lions, and click the search button just below. Then click on the link to Laura's Lions team page. From there you can donate, sign up to walk or both. To all those who have already donated or signed up to walk, we cannot thank you enough.